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December 27th, 2004 by Liuzhou Laowai in Food and Drink | Comments Off on A man’s a man for a’ that!

When he wasn’t too busy making cakes, Kipling famously wrote “East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet” This is obviously nonsense. East and west most certainly meet. Just watch the tourists at Greenwich Observatory every day having their pictures taking straddling the mean line. But then, I suppose he […]

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December 27th, 2004 by Liuzhou Laowai in Liuzhou Life | Comments Off on Brrrr!

One of the reasons I choose to live here in Guangxi is the climate. For nine months of the year it is warm, if not hot! We are just a shade above the Tropic of Cancer and so are officially in a “semi-tropical zone.”. Last Wednesday (22nd December), I was basking in afternoon temperatures of […]

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December 21st, 2004 by Liuzhou Laowai in Liuzhou Life, Travel | Comments Off on All Aboard!

Yesterday, I did something rather rash. I know it’s a bad habit, but where would we be if we didn’t occasionally do something wild and crazy? It’s not something I do often and I’m sure it’s not habit forming. In a moment of madness, I decided to take a bus! Not a special long distance […]

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Among the various things for which Liuzhou is famous (see coffins below) are its gastronomic delights. It seems that every city in China has its speciality which, as everyone knows, is the best in China. Some years ago, I lived in Hunan and the local “world famous” dish was an absolutely delicious duck stew, laden […]

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December 18th, 2004 by Liuzhou Laowai in Humour | Comments Off on A site for sore eyes!

I know you are all sitting out there in blogland, wondering what you can buy me for Christmas which will live up to my highly sophisticated needs. Fear not. I have a suggestion to make. I really need one of these! According to the manufacturer, the “USB Eye Massager is the latest-designed health care Product […]

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December 17th, 2004 by Liuzhou Laowai in Literature | Comments Off on This Land of Tattooed People

Here is a poem (translation below) by the Tang Dynasty poet, Liu Zongyuan (773 – 819). Back in those days, to be in the ruling elite, you had to be a dab hand at scribbling down a verse or two. Liu Zongyuan screwed up at some point by backing the wrong coup and was shipped […]

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December 15th, 2004 by Liuzhou Laowai in Humour | Comments Off on Groundhog Day

Every morning for the past three years, I’ve woken at 5:59 to the sound of, not Sonny and Cher, but the joyful refrains of “Happy Birthday to You”. I leap out of bed demanding presents and cake, only to sink back in disappointment at the recognition of just another day in China. After a while, […]

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December 11th, 2004 by Liuzhou Laowai in About Liuzhou | Comments Off on Coffins

This delightful little poem translates as Be born in Suzhou Live in Hangzhou Eat in Guangzhou Die in Liuzhou Allegedly, the most beautiful people are from Suzhou, while Hangzhou is rated as China’s most beautiful city. Guangzhou (Canton) is, of course, the home of Cantonese food, supposedly the best China has to offer. All highly […]

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December 11th, 2004 by Liuzhou Laowai in Humour, Liuzhou Life | Comments Off on Power Guanxi

OK. I’m an idiot. I had every opportunity to deal with things before they got out of hand. But I didn’t. Yesterday my electricity was cut off for non-payment. I had meant to pop in and hand over the cash, but I kept forgetting. So, there I was happily googling for something or other, when […]